Mark Krasnow
Key Documents
Contact Information
- Academic Offices
Personal Information Email Tel (650) 723-7191Alternate Contact Maria Petersen Administrative Assistant Tel Work 650-724-8764
Professional Overview
Administrative Appointments
- Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (1997 - present)
- Chair, Stanford University School of Medicine - Biochemistry (2006 - present)
- Executive Director, Wall Center for Pulmonary Vascular Disease (2010 - present)
Honors and Awards
- Fellow, American Academy of Arts & Sciences (2009)
Postdoctoral Advisees
Douglas Brownfield, Andy Chang, Astrid Gillich, Peng Li, Anna Lyuksyutova, Fraser Tan, Serena Tan
Internet Links
Scientific Focus
Current Research Interests
We are studying the biochemical mechanisms of cell migration, cytoplasmic extension, and cell adhesion during development of the Drosophila tracheal (respiratory) system. The tracheal system is a network of epithelial tubes that transports oxygen to the tissues, like the lungs and vascular system in mammals. We use a combined in vivo and in vitro approach, employing genetic, cellular, and molecular methods to identify and characterize genes involved in the processes, and reconstruction of the processes in simplified in vitro systems to study the functions of the identified gene products.
The development of the 80 cells in each segment that form the tracheal system has been characterized, and more than a dozen genes that regulate branch formation and outgrowth have been identified so far. Formation of the major tracheal branches is controlled by a homolog of mammalian fibroblast growth factors; it selects the positions where branches bud and guides the migration of tracheal cells during branch outgrowth via a receptor tyrosine kinase expressed on tracheal cells. We are trying to elucidate this FGF signaling pathway and understand how it controls cell migration. The fine terminal branches form by extension of long cytoplasmic processes from tracheal cells towards oxygen-starved tissues. This is regulated by chemotactic factor(s) secreted by hypoxic tissues. We have characterized several genes in this signaling pathway, and we are searching for the chemotactic factor. We wish to determine how the chemotactic factor and the other signaling components guide cytoplasmic outgrowth. We are also studying epithelial tube fusion, the process by which tracheal tubes from one segment find and fuse with tubes in the neighboring segments to connect up the tracheal network.
Publications
- Coronary arteries form by developmental reprogramming of venous cells. Nature. 2010; (7288): 549-53
- Dual origin of tissue-specific progenitor cells in Drosophila tracheal remodeling. Science. 2008; (5895): 1496-9
- The branching programme of mouse lung development. Nature. 2008; (7196): 745-50
- Social interactions among epithelial cells during tracheal branching morphogenesis. Nature. 2006; (7094): 746-9
- Branching morphogenesis of the Drosophila tracheal system. Annu Rev Cell Dev Biol. 2003: 623-47
